Five of the best short stories

Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Baton Rouge Advocate, is the author of A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House. One of his five favorite short stories, as shared at the Christian Science Monitor:

Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.”

In college English class, I laughed to the point of tears while reading this comic monologue of a self-absorbed narrator discussing her Southern gothic family. My professor advised us not to analyze the tale, but simply enjoy it. Good advice for savoring Welty, one of the great pleasure-givers in the English language.

Read about another entry on the list.

Also see: Tessa Hadley's top ten short stories, Rosamund Bartlett's five top books on Russian short stories, Chris Priestley's top ten scary short stories, Jane Ciabattari's five must-read short-story collections, and Alison MacLeod's top ten short stories.

--Marshal Zeringue